John Alonzo Chandler Sr. (January 18, 1831 – March 31, 1902) was an American railroad agent, Republican politician, and pioneer of Wisconsin and Minnesota.
[1] He was subsequently hired as foreman of the Green Mountain Freeman in Montpelier, Vermont, working for Daniel Pierce Thompson.
He then began studying law in the offices of Peter T. Washburn and Charles P. Marsh at Woodstock, Vermont, and was admitted to the bar in December 1853.
[2][3] His older brother William had previously moved to Ohio and became involved in the railroad industry, and subsequently went to work as a locomotive operator for the new Milwaukee Road.
When the Portage terminal opened, on March 17, 1857, Chandler was appointed cashier at that station, then the western terminus of the road.
The regiment was initially assigned to guard Confederate prisoners in Madison, Wisconsin, but received orders in June 1862 to move east to Washington, D.C., where they were sent by ship to Fort Monroe in the Union enclave along the Virginia coast.
[11] In the Fall of 1870, Chandler was appointed the general freight agent for the railroad at the Saint Paul, Minnesota, terminal.